Slayers and Skullduggery
by MovinTarget666
Summary: Xander picks the costume of a Detective for Halloween, but this is no ordinary detective. Buffy/Skullduggery Pleasant
1. Chapter 1

Slayers and Skullduggery

October 30th 1997

Xander looked about the shop, wondering if there was some way to make a costume with the meager change in his back pocket. He had planned on simply buying a toy gun to fit with the old fatigues that were in his closet, but that plan was destroyed earlier when in a moment of drunk inspiration had cut up the pants in an effort to make a bag, or drapes, or rug, or strips of cloth, which is what they ended up as.

Sighing to himself he glanced over at his two best friends and debated whether or not to go over there and add a witty comment or two, after all what was life without humor? He headed over to them and saw Buffy fawning over some sort of noblewoman's dress.

"It looks good Buff… but I prefer my women in spandex."

The pair rolled their eyes and looked at the boy behind them, Willow giving a giggle and Buffy saying, "look, Xander about earlier-"

"Do you mind Buffy, I'm trying to repress." Xander cut her off with a smirk to show he was kidding.

Playing along Buffy nodded once and said, "Alright, next time I'll let you get pummeled."

"Thank y-" Xander didn't even manage to finish his sentence before the pair were back fawning at the dress. Rolling his eyes he began wandering the store looking for something he could wear. He was nearing the counter when the shine of a pair of sunglasses caught his eyes. In a forgotten corner hung what looked like a tailor made suit with a fedora, a wig, a pair of sunglasses, white silk gloves, and the largest gray scarf he had ever seen.

"See something you like?" The voice from behind made Xander jump a foot into the air before seeing it was the owner of the store, Ethan something. When no answer was forthcoming from the frightened teen the middle-aged Englishman looked at what he was staring at and smiled. Oh the chaos that would be caused by such a drastic change would be a perfect end to the night. And if Ethan wasn't mistaken this young man was an associate of the Slayer. Putting a false smile on his face he told the boy, "Ah, I see you are looking at that costume! It is quite a brilliant one if I do say so myself. I cobbled all the part together in honor of a story my friend Rupert once wrote."

Xander looked at the smiling owner and back at the costume on the rack. He really wanted the costume but he didn't have enough mo- "Wait, Rupert? Do you mean Rupert Giles?"

Ethan's smile grew even wider. He quickly grabbed the costume from the rack and handed the thing to the boy, "If you are a friend of old Rupert then I want you to have this costume! Just be sure to show it to him after the night is done."

Xander nodded in thanks and took the costume and the card that had the information about what the character was. Looking at it he read: _Skullduggery Pleasant, P.I._


	2. Chapter 2

Slayers and Skullduggery

October 31st 1997

Xander shifted the scarf covering his face. The instructions on the costume made it clear that no part of his skin could be visible for it to work. The problem was that the scarf kept sliding down his face. He finally grabbed it, tore it from his face and retied the thing for the third time. Taking one last look in the mirror he nodded to his reflection. The suit was a bit tight but he assumed that was because it was 'tailored' for a walking skeleton, which was what this Pleasant guy was.

Leaving his house, Xander looked around to make sure there was no sign of his father and rushed to the other side of the street. If he managed to avoid being seen, not even that drunken idiot would know it was him. Taking the sidewalk in the direction of Buffy's house, he thought of what the owner of the store said about Giles writing a story. His costume was apparently about this guy, so he should show it off the English librarian.

Tomorrow.

Knocking on the door to Buffy's house, he gave himself a quick once over to make sure that everything was in place. After a few moments he got a bit impatient and rang the doorbell. The door opened almost immediately, revealing an elegantly clad, brunette, Buffy. Smiling under his scarf Xander said, "Skullduggery Pleasant on the case for- Buffy! Lady of Buffdom, Duchess of Buffonia, I am in awe! I completely renounce spandex!"

"Xander?" Buffy asked, who had been confused as to who the figure before her was as he had not told her or Willow what he was going as, "Is that you?"

"Why yes your royal Buffyness."

Buffy laughed as he bowed low to her without losing his hat. He righted himself and asked if they were ready to go. Buffy nodded and said, "Yeah, just wait till you get a look at Willow"

Turning to look at the stairs the watched as a self conscious Willow descended the stairs in a long coat, under the coat was what looked like a cross between a corset, a pair of cargo pants, and combat boots. When she saw them she smiled nervously and quickly said to Xander, " ."

Xander, who had developed an understanding for Willow-babble, nodded asking what the character's name was. Willow took a deep breath and said, "Her name is Tanith Low. I think she's a monster hunter."

Xander nodded and waved his gloved hand in the universal signal for "come on" and walked out the door, with the two ladies following behind him.


	3. Chapter 3

Slayers and Skullduggery

October 31st 1997 A minute before the spell is activated

Xander walked along beside the kids he was watching, making sure they got the candy that they so rightly deserved. He remembered the days when he had been that age, of innocence and free things. Well before his folks had gone to the bottle, and can, and occasional flask.

Sighing he did a quick head count and motioned for his kids to cross the street to the next house. As they got to the sidewalk they all stiffened, if anybody were to watch, and some of the unaffected kids were, they would notice that the demon masks many of the kids had been wearing now looked real. And if anybody had looked at the leader of the candy gathering group they would see the figure of Xander Harris seem to shrink into himself, seemingly losing muscle mass and body fat until he was thin as a skeleton.

Looking about himself Skullduggery Pleasant was confused; the last thing he remembered was fighting the Faceless ones as they were exiting the portal. He remembered being grabbed by one of the many tentacles and being dragged into the portal with his last sight being that of Valkyrie trying to get to him. Ah poor Valkyrie, probably devastated due to the fact that she couldn't see this lovely bag of bones.

Wait a tick.

He did not have his bones, now that was odd. The bones he had were all from the same person, if he could feel them right, but none of them were his! And he still didn't have his skull, now he would have to find all his bones again.

"Skull! Skullduggery!"

The shout attracts his attention and he tilts his head to the left and sees a red headed teen about Valkyrie's age or so. It was hard to tell these days. But for some odd reason she was wearing Tanith's clothing. Righting his head he nods at her and asks in a voice that was smoother than silk, but didn't have his tone or accent, "And who are you my dear?"

The girl stops short at the sound of his voice and draws a blade just like Tanith's, "Wait a minute. You do not sound like Skullduggery Pleasant…. Show me you face!"

Skullduggery would have raised an eyebrow if he could, "And who, pray tell, is going to make me?"

"That would be me," She answers with certainty.

"And who pray tell are you?"

"Tanith Low."

Skullduggery tilted his head to the left and asked, "When we first met the White Cleaver, what was Ghastly's fate?"

Tanith narrowed her eyes, but relaxed her posture, "He used the earth element."

"Correct, now lets find out what is going on. As I am not in possession of my bones and you do not normally have red hair I suggest we find some answers," Skullduggery said and the pair began to move in a random direction along the way. They heard a loud scream of terror and stopped to look in the direction it came from.

Skullduggery angled his head to the side and nodded then looked to Tanith and said, "possibly sixteenth century, only those women had that practiced a scream. We're probably dealing with an adept who deals in mind swaps or possession or some such rot."

Tanith looked at him, hoping for an explanation as to how he knew that. Of course none was forthcoming so she shrugged and headed in the direction they had heard the scream come from.


	4. Chapter 4

Slayers and Skulduggery

November 1st 1997, the morning after

Giles absently sipped his tea and read his book and smiled at the quiet night he had had. His wool gathering was interrupted by the presence of Willow entering the library followed by Buffy, Cordelia, and another individual in an impeccable tailor made suit. The man in the suit tugged at Gils' mind and he spent a few seconds trying to figure out where he knew the outfit.

Before he could remember, Buffy loudly called out, "Giles! Help!"

With a sigh, Giles stood from his seat behind the checkout counter and asked was about to ask what they needed. Before he could get a word out however, the thin man in the suit whipped around and pointed an aged revolver directly at his face. It was another second before the man lowered his pistol, "Sorry G-man, just jumpy right now."

"My word! Xander is that you…. And stop using that infernal nickname!" Giles didn't know which to be, annoyed or worried about the boy. It was then that he realized where he knew the suit, "and why are dressed as a character I made?"

Xander tilted his head to the left and it seemed as though he were measuring Giles up for a moment. Then he slowly reached up to his face and pulled the scarf that hid his face down. Except there was no face, only a skull grin waiting under the cloth. Giles fell into his chair with a thump and stared at his creation come to life and the pair of girls who did not know what was hidden beneath the scarf screamed. Willow simply hung her head in sad acknowledgement.

Xander turned his head to look at the girls and they screamed even louder. Shaking his head he turned to Giles and said, "I am him Giles, everything he was and could have been, and I'm an elemental."

So saying he snaps his fingers and flames blaze into existence on his index finger. Pulling a cigar he had stolen from a Wolverine the night before, he lit it with his finger and placed it between his teeth. It made for such a sight that Buffy and Cordelia stopped screaming and simply stared.

Taking the cigar out of his mouth he then told Giles, "I actually think this might be pretty good if you think about it. Plus, with the ol' Sunnydale syndrome all we have to do to make me fit right back in is put on one of those joke glasses things"

With that he pulls yet another thing from his pocket and puts it on his face, it is a pair of joke glasses. Xander now looked like a skull with horn rimed glasses and a big fake nose. He had just slipped them on and they were all going to chastise him on such a horrible idea when the Troll entered the library.

"Summers! Rosenberg! Harris! I want to know why you got those kids back to school a full hour before they needed to be!"

Xander walked right up to the Troll and said, "It was my fault Mister Snyder, I felt it would be good to get the little rascals off the street before dark, you do know it isn't safe to be out then."

Snyder stared at Harris's new look. The delinquent had gotten himself glasses, why did he need them if he was never going to even look at a chalkboard. After a moment of contemplation about the nightlife he said, "Fine then, carry on. But I have my Eyes on you Harris!"


End file.
